Mom Celebrates Son’s Coming Out With Ad In Paper A mom showed support for her homosexual son coming out as gay with an ad in the newspaper earlier this week. The woman says she wanted to show her son and her city that she was proud of him for living his truth — partially in protest of the city voting against a recently proposed bill that would have legally prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation , gender identity and 13 other characteristics. Via TexasObserver : Readers of the Houston Chronicle may have noticed an unusual advertisement in the “Celebrations” section of Sunday’s edition. The ad consisted of an announcement from unidentified parents saying their teenage son, “Drake,” had come out as gay. Drake was pictured in the ad but identified only by his first name. Thanks to some cyber-sleuthing, the Observer determined that the teen in the ad is Drake Wilson, a senior who serves as student body vice president at Snohomish High School in Washington state. Joan Wilson, Drake’s mother, said Tuesday that she placed the ad in response to the defeat of Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) in November. “I couldn’t think of a better place than Houston, out of the entire country, where they needed to hear my message of pride,” Joan Wilson said, adding that she believes her son was born gay and created by God. “My announcement was my way of humanizing the issue.” We can’t believe the city voted IN FAVOR of discrimination being legal! But what do you think of the mother’s “protest?” Darryl Morrison / YouTube
Department Of Justice Requiring Employees To Publicize Support For Gay Community More than a few government employees who work for the Department of Justice are in an uproar over a new brochure that was recently circulated around the workplace, requiring employees to either openly confirm or openly deny their support of gay people. via Fox News The Department of Justice has been accused of religious intolerance and viewpoint discrimination after workers were sent an email directing them to verbally affirm homosexuality, according to a law firm specializing in religious liberty and now representing a DOJ whistleblower. Liberty Counsel said DOJ employees were emailed a brochure called “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” The brochure was created as a resource from DOJ Pride, an association of lesbian, gay, bis-xual and transgender employees of the DOJ. Among the directives in the brochure is an order for workers to vocally affirm homosexuality. “Don’t judge or remain silent,” the brochure read. “Silence will be interpreted as disapproval.” They were also told to post “DOJ Pride” stickers in their office to indicate “that it is a safe place.” One gay DOJ employee is quoted in the directive; “Silence seems like disapproval. There’s still an atmosphere of LGBT issues not being appropriate for the workplace (particularly for transgender people), or that people who bring it up are trying to rock the boat.” It’s public knowledge that discrimination based on sexual orientation is against the law, but forcing employees to publicly vocalize their stance on gay rights at work seems a little extreme. Would you be offended if you received a similar brochure at your workplace?
Yesterday brought us a bombshell lawsuit filed by Nicolette Sheridan against Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry, alleging that she was wrongfully fired from the show in the wake of a physical assault by Cherry. In the wake of any additional news today, I decided to examine the lawsuit in greater depth, and I’m surprised that one of Sheridan’s charges — unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation — isn’t attracting greater attention.